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"The face of the operation is Briatore (referred to exclusively in the film by his colleagues and angry, chanting detractors as "Flavio"), an anthropomorphic radish who spends most of his time at QPR plotting to fire all of the managers."

At press time, Harbaugh had sent Michigan’s athletic department an envelope containing a heavily annotated seating chart, a list of the 63,000 seat views he had found unsatisfactory, and a glowing 70-page report on section 25, row 12, seat 9, which he claimed is “exactly what the great sport of football is all about.”

Rules Understanding: Bush Push vs. Forcier Push

Everybody always brings up how the "Bush Push" (where Reggie pushed Matt Leinart into the endzone to beat ND) was illegal. I'm trying to understand what makes a push illegal. Are all pushes to help your player illegal? If so, I'm trying to understand why I haven't heard more buzz from Indiana fans about the play where two of our OL pushed Forcier into the endzone for the 2pt conversion last year.

Just looking for some knowledgable insight as to what is/isn't legal for "pushing".

My understanding is that, typically, there is a difference in the way the refs interpret a rule and the way a rule is written (on every single running play offensive linemen push the running back forward, while the defense tries to push him backwards, and the refs spot it either where he goes down, or where they blow the whistle). As an athlete, you don't give a fuck about the rules in situations akin to the "Bush push." You are just doing everything in your power to win the game or get that extra yard.

What many forget is it is NOT illegal to push a would-be tackler off the runner. So, not only do we have the vagarities of the “current interpretation”, we also have the subjective issues of whether the fellow offensive player is pushing the runner or pushing the tackler. Sometimes it is clear. Other times, particularly in a scrum, it’s not so clear.

“No other offense has ever been visited with such severe penalties as seeking to help the oppressed.”

..on purpose. An example of this is offensive holding, college linemen are taught to hold from day one. During my first position meeting as a college freshmen, the coach made it clear that you need to hold on every play, but if you ever cost the offense 10 yards then the shit was going to fly. So it was basically cheat, but don't get caught. Another rule that is often broken is offsides on kickoffs. There is usually atleast 1 person across the line before the kicker.

No rule is overlooked, I as an official have never nor will ever overlook a rule. The interpretation of the rules is up to the individual official and that is bound to cause some varience but no rule is ever overlooked.

apparently the least called penalty in college football is "assisting the runner." the trivia master referenced the bush push as an example of the penalty. this was at a bar in rural east georgia so i hope he was right or i'm going back for my 50 bucks.

The NFHS rules(which apply to all levels of football from the high school level down) states that "An offensive player shall not push, pull, or lift the runner to assist his forward progress". Along with that the runner is prohibited from grasping a teammate in an attempt to assist his forward progress, this offense would result in a 10 yard Illegal use of hands penalty.

In the case of the Forcier push, I did not see anything that could have been interpreted as assisting the runner. #52 Steve Schilling, was the closest to committing a penalty but when you watch it he is very careful about stopping fully and making a blocking sort of gesture with his arms. He extends his arms as if to push but he is not intentionally pushing Forcier in the endzone, he is pushing his defender backwards or at least trying to.

In the case of the Bush Push, Reggie clearly drives his shoulders and feet into Leinart and also clearly extends his arms to assist the runner. In that case I dont think it is any question that it was an illegal act. Unfortunately the officials are not afforded the luxury of the camera angles we fans get and therefore it is possible for human error to occure.

The head linesman should have seen the penalty and made the call but he didnt and the play will forever stand as an example of how even the best officials get it wrong sometimes. I know fans dont like to hear that but it is just the nature of any game that human error will effect the outcome from time to time.

ARTICLE 2. a. The ball carrier or passer may use his hand or arm to ward off or push opponents

b. The ball carrier shall not grasp a teammate; and no other player of his team shall grasp, pull, push, lift or charge into him to assist him in forward progress. (emphasis added)

c. Teammates of the ball carrier or passer may interfere for him by blocking but shall not use interlocked interference by grasping or encircling one another in any matter while contacting an opponent.

The official must interpret the intent of the blocking player. If he is in contact with the ball carrier in order to assist him in forward progress, then its a violation of the rule. With that being said, I think this rule has been on the books for a long time and I honestly cannot recall an instance when I've seen this called.

Yes, I really just wasted 30 minutes looking this up solely to keep me from having to study for the bar. So thank you tjyoung

I'm sure the rule is designed to cut down on injuries. It's not hard to picture a defensive player's knee buckling under the stress of holding his ground against multiple offensive players pushing in the other direction.

Once da Bears' William Perry was lead blocking for Payton, payton hit the line and bounced back. The Fridge picked him up and threw him over the line into the endzone. This isn't legal. Same way that a fullback can't take a knee and have a running back jump off his back over the line (like how 5'11'' guys like me can dunk)

The rule has always been on the books and by the rule both plays you linked could be penalties. However, it is almost never called. While it happens all the time, the Bush Push was a pretty egregious example of it. Much more so than the Tate clip. I feel for ND fans losing that way but they just aren't ever going to call that.

I have no idea if the rule had some purpose back in the day or if exists to stop guys from being carried by their teammeates or what.

There's no "pile" rule. That sounds like the kind of coach speak that us officials hate because it leads to confusion on rules *SIDE NOTE BELOW).

Read the rule above. The "helper" must be making contact with the ball carrier in some sense. You cannot determine if the "helper" really made contact with the defender or with the ball carrier in the Forcier clip. In order for a flag to be thrown, it should be pretty clear. If I can't clearly determine it on several replays, then how can I saw the helper was assisting the ball carrier and not blocking a defender?

*Aside: True or false - A basketball player shoots a 8 foot jumpshot. The ball does not touch the rim, backboard, or net and the shooter catches the shot. This is a violation. FALSE! If it was a shot, the shooter may get the ball so long as the official judges it to be an intentional try for goal. I cannot count how many times I've gotten into arguments about this playing pick up. I blame idiot TV announcers, bad high school officials, and oblivious high school coaches.

I played FB for 10 seasons and coached for almost 20 more and have seen a number of occasions where "aiding the runner" was in effect and an obvious violation yet I saw it enforced only once - when I was in Pop Warner FB at age 11. They were trying to teach kids "the game". Later, at the HS level I was told more than once by officials, including the "white hats", that they will NEVER EVER call that penalty. Huh? Then get it out of the rule books. I was speechless that these guys were saying they were unwilling to enforce an obvious violation of a rule they admit was in the book. They probably learned from watching the big boys on TV.